The Inauguration of our road.

Today we joined our community in celebrating that our street has been finished. The promises of a few more weeks merged into a few more months but we are delighted that it has now been finished and the road is open to all vehicles. We are so pleased to have a break from the noise and the dust and are really excited that the refuse collector can now stop outside our house.

One funny story was that during a public holiday (when the workmen were not working) a man wearing a fluorescent orange jacket knocked on the door offering to pour cement in our sewage system since he claimed to have seen a rat. He was offering to do this if we paid him, well the mere mention of the word rat had Anjanette almost ready to pay him on the spot but when she saw him knocking on all the neighbours' doors with the same story it was she who smelled a rat!

Here are a few photos of the process.

This was how the street looked when we moved into our new house back in May!

Clever way to put up a lamp post using only string and logs!

Using a wheelbarrow as a deck chair when it's time for a siesta.

We were so happy when the day to asphalt the road finally came.

Living in chaos for a few months gave us an appreciation of the many simple things in life that we take for granted.

Puno has been declared a state of emergency .

Please join us in praying for Puno and other  mountain communities close to Cusco which have been badly affected by heavy snow fall. In Puno thousands of people have been affected as their homes, crops and livestock have been devasted by 1m of snow.

We are fine although we have felt very cold in Cusco city and we have seen snow on the hills close to our house which is very unusual.

Puno (the region next to Cusco ) has been declared a state of emergency for 60 days, we pray that the relief operation will be fast and effective . ( photo taken from Midnight Watcher's blogspot)